By SIA LING XIN

ATEAM of police officers were so hot on the heels of the thief who stole cash and luxury watches worth $7.6 million from Cortina

Watch that they pressured him into surrendering after fleeing Singapore.

The officers tracked him to Malaysia and then Thailand.

They worked with the Thai authorities to monitor the border checkpoints, and alerted watch dealers not to buy the stolen goods.

Backed into a corner, the thief, Jerry Ee, surrendered through his lawyer in March, three months after his crime.

The four Singapore Police Force officers received the Minister for Home Affairs' Award for Operational Excellence from Senior Minister of State for Law and Home Affairs Ho Peng Kee yesterday.

The award, first given in 1996, commends officers for their professionalism and achievements in mounting successful operations and arrests.

This year, 152 teams that carried out successful operations between May 2007 and August this year were given the award.

Associate Professor Ho said: "These operations show the way forward, to make (life) right for Singaporeans."

Ee eventually surrendered more than 230 new watches worth $4.6 million and $16,160 in cash to the police. He was sentenced to nine years' jail last month.

Assistant Superintendent Burhanudeen Haji Hussainar, 43, who led the team, said: "The fact that Ee fled Singapore almost immediately after the crime was a huge challenge."

This is because it is usually easier to conduct investigations on familiar terrain but, fortunately, the team received full cooperation from the Thai authorities, he said.

The operation involved a lot of legwork but the team was glad that it recovered a substantial number of watches, he said.

Also bagging the award was a team from Singapore Prison Service which carried out the largest transfer of inmates in prison history.

More than 360 officers moved about 5,000 inmates from five prison institutions to Changi Prison Complex, on five Sundays in July and August.

They had to prevent vehicle breakdowns and ensure the secure custody and transfer of inmates, so they began planning from late last year and carried out a dry run before the actual operation, said Deputy Superintendent Faisal Mustaffa, 41.

Being well-prepared, and blessed, helped the operation succeed, he said.

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